'Vikas Dubey was tipped off about Kanpur police action', 3 cops suspended

Kanpur, July 6

Three police personnel, including two sub-inspectors and a constable, have been suspended on charges of laxity in duty in connection with the death of eight policemen in Kanpur, a senior official said on Monday. 

"A preliminary inquiry has been initiated against all three policemen, including sub-inspectors Kunwarpal and Krishna Kumar Sharma and constable Rajeev, all posted at the Chaubeypur Police Station," Kanpur SSP Dinesh Kumar P said.  

They have been suspended for laxity in duty in connection with the death of eight police personnel in Kanpur, a police PRO said. 

An FIR would also be lodged against the policemen and they would face further action if their involvement is proved during the course of inquiry, the SSP added.

Meanwhile, a reward for the arrest of gangster Vikas Dubey has been increased to Rs 2.50 lakh.

Daya Shankar Agnihotri, an accomplice of gangster Vikas Dubey, who was arrested on Sunday morning after a brief encounter in Kalyanpur area has admitted that Vikas Dubey had received a call that a police team would preparing to raid his house.

Daya Shankar Agnihotri, who was inside Vikas Dubey's house during the encounter, worked as a cook in Dubey's house and his wife worked as a maid.

He said that he did not know how to operate a gun and was sleeping when the firing began.

He has also said that he was locked inside the house when Vikas Dubey and his men attacked the police personnel. "I saw nothing," Daya Shankar Agnihotri said.

Call details of phones used by Vikas Dubey have revealed that he was in regular touch with the suspended station house officer of Chaubeypur, Vinay Tiwari, one police constable and a home guard.

A senior STF official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Vinay Tiwari was being interrogated and further investigations in the matter were on.

Tiwari was suspended on Saturday for his alleged connivance in tipping-off the notorious local criminal Vikas Dubey.

The STF official refused to divulge further details saying that it would affect investigations.

Sources said that the phones of Vikas Dubey had been switched off a few hours after he fled. The phones of his friends, relatives, associated had been put on surveillance but Dubey had not contacted any of them so far.

Station officer Bithoor police station, Kaushalendra Pratap Singh, who was injured in the Friday incident and is undergoing treatment at the Regency hospital, told reporters on Sunday that they were not prepared for an encounter and most of the policemen were unarmed.

He said that as soon as the police team reached the spot where the earthmover had been strategically positioned, firing began.

"There was no street light and we could not see properly. Some of the policemen saved themselves by running behind the earthmover. We could not see who was firing because of darkness all around," he said. IANS/PTI